Marketing, Brand & Demand Creation

Watch

• How luxury brands do marketing | 24 Anti-Laws of Marketing ↗Fashion Brief
• IBB’s Business and Marketing Interview with Director of Demand Generation, Mr. Sayantan Dasgupt ↗Icons Behind Brands
• Who is best? Account Based Marketing or Demand Generation? ↗In Love With Marketing

Read

• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind ↗This seminal work reveals how successful brands carve out a distinct mental niche in the crowded consumer psyche.Al Ries & Jack Trout
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion ↗An indispensable guide to the six universal principles of persuasion, offering profound insights into consumer behaviour and effective communication.Robert Cialdini
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable ↗A compelling argument that in an age of abundant choice, only truly remarkable products and services can cut through the noise and create demand.Seth Godin
• Marketing MyopiaThis enduring essay challenges firms to define their business by customer needs rather than product offerings, a cornerstone of strategic marketing.Theodore Levitt
• Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers ↗Essential reading for innovators, this book outlines the critical strategies required to bridge the gap between early adopters and the mass market for new technologies.Geoffrey A. Moore

Voices to follow

• Seth Godin ↗His prolific writings challenge conventional marketing wisdom, advocating for authentic engagement and remarkable products over intrusive advertising.Bestselling author and marketing guru
• Scott Galloway ↗Offers incisive, often contrarian, analysis on brand strategy, the tech industry, and the future of business, delivered with characteristic candour.Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern School of Business, and author
• Rory Sutherland ↗Explores the psychological underpinnings of consumer behaviour, demonstrating how subtle shifts in perception can create immense value for brands.Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK, and behavioural economics expert
• Jonah Berger ↗His research illuminates the science behind social influence and virality, explaining why certain ideas and products become widely popular.Professor of Marketing, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Glossary

• AdvertisingAdvertising is a paid way for businesses to tell people about their products or services, usually through various media like TV, social media, or billboards. It's a specific type of promotion. For example, the catchy jingle you hear on the radio for a new soft drink, or the sponsored post you see on Instagram from a clothing store, are both forms of advertising.
• BrandA brand is the unique name, logo, design, and overall feeling that makes a product or company recognizable and different from others. It's what people think and feel when they hear or see a company's name. For example, the swoosh symbol and "Just Do It" slogan instantly make you think of Nike and its sporty, active image. That's their brand.
• CustomerA customer is a person or group who buys goods or services from a business. They are the ones who decide to spend their money on what a company offers. For example, if you buy a new video game, you are the customer of the game company.
• DemandDemand refers to how much of a product or service customers are willing and able to buy at a certain price. Marketing aims to create and increase this desire and ability to purchase. For example, when a new video game console is released and everyone wants one, causing it to sell out quickly, that shows high demand for the product.
• Market ResearchMarket research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about customers, competitors, and the market itself to understand what people want and how to best sell to them. It helps businesses make smart decisions. For example, a snack company might conduct surveys to find out which new chip flavor teenagers would prefer, or observe how people shop in stores to see what catches their eye.
• MarketingMarketing is the whole process of telling people about a product or service, showing them why they need it, and making it easy for them to buy it. It's about connecting what a business offers with what customers want. For example, when a new snack company creates catchy ads, sets up tasting booths at schools, and makes sure its chips are sold in every local shop, that's all part of its marketing effort.
• ProductA product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need. This can be a physical item, a service, an idea, or even an experience. For example, your smartphone is a physical product, but the data plan you buy for it is a service product.
• PromotionPromotion involves all the activities a business does to communicate with its customers and persuade them to buy its products or services. This includes advertising, sales, public relations, and more. For example, a restaurant offering a "buy one, get one free" deal, sending out flyers, and posting daily specials on social media are all different types of promotion.
• Target AudienceThe target audience is the specific group of people that a business aims its products or services at. These are the people most likely to want or need what the business offers. For example, a company making educational apps for learning math would have school students (like you!) and their parents as its target audience.
• Value PropositionA value proposition is a clear statement that explains why a customer should choose one product or service over another. It highlights the unique benefits and value a customer will get. For example, a smartphone's value proposition might be "the best camera for stunning photos" or "the longest battery life for all-day use," telling you why it's better than others.

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Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Diagnosing Mental Disorder Psychology

  Loosen the definition of a disorder just a little and suddenly millions more people 'have' it, which happens to be millions of new customers for a pill. Critics call this 'disease mongering,' turning ordinary shyness or fidgeting into a billable condition. Widening a diagnosis can quietly build a market the same way a marketer manufactures demand.

• Perception & Attention Psychology

  Pour the same cola into a labeled cup and a blank one, and people swear the branded one tastes better. Your brain doesn't just record the world like a camera, it builds what you experience using your expectations. A logo literally reaches into the drink before you sip, so marketing is really hacking your senses, not your opinions.

• Genre & Form Literature

  Calling a movie a 'horror' or a 'rom-com' works exactly like a brand label on a cereal box: it promises you what you're about to get. That's why streaming apps sort everything into genres and keep feeding you more of the same. Breaking the mold is risky, because a story nobody can label is a story nobody knows how to sell.

• Memory and Its Failures Psychology

  An ad usually isn't trying to make you buy right now, it's planting a memory. Weeks later at the store, that jingle or image quietly resurfaces and nudges your hand. A brand is basically a memory that companies engineered on purpose, waiting to pop up at the shelf.

• Mythology and Epics Literature

  Big brands copy the exact recipe of ancient epics: an origin story, a hero facing trials, a sacred symbol. The same story shape that once bound tribes to their gods now binds customers to a swoosh or a bitten apple. Marketing is myth-making with a logo.